Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Ashley Zukerman, Gillian Jacobs,
Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr, Sadie Sink
1994, the opening chapter of director Leigh Janiak's ambitious trilogy
inspired by RL Stine's Fear Street books, riffed on
the slasher revival of the '90s (even if that revival didn't kick off
until '96 and the release of Wes Craven's Scream).
1978, the middle instalment, was a love letter to the summer camp slashers of
the late '70s and '80s. Both movies were heavy on period needle drops and
fashion items.
For the concluding chapter Janiak takes us back to 1666, so I guess that
rules out the needle drops? Think again, as only half of the movie
actually plays out in its titular time period, with the second half
returning to 1994 for one of those overlong climaxes the kids seem to love
now.
As you might expect, 1666 plays out very much in the realm
of folk-horror, the sub-genre that shined brightly in the '70s and has
made a recent comeback with the likes of
The Witch
and
Midsommar. At the end of 1978, the trilogy's heroine Deena (Kiana Madeira)
had a flashback to 1666, where she inhabited the body of Sarah Fier, the
witch seemingly responsible for all of her small town's woes.
The first half of 1666 is a somewhat generic take on
folk-horror. All the trappings are there, with a small community of
pilgrims living in fear of an unknown terror plaguing their people. When
the village pastor massacres his Sunday school flock, Sarah is blamed,
accused of witchcraft for indulging her lesbian lust for the pastor's
daughter (Olivia Welch). Fleeing the angry mob, Sarah uncovers the
truth behind the darkness engulfing her community.
In one of those "What were they thinking?" decisions, Janiak casts not
only Madeira as Sarah Fier, but the rest of the very modern American casts
of 1994 and 1978 as the villagers. This means
we're treated to the bizarre sight of a multicultural community living in
racial harmony in…the America of the 17th century? And for some mad reason
the villagers all speak with awful stage Oirish brogues. The effect is
akin to watching a high school play or a skit from some comedy sketch
show. Every time one of the fresh-faced young actors from the previous
instalments shows up garbling a ridiculous accent, we're immediately taken
out of both the period and the narrative.
As the 1994 climax plays out, with the villains of Shadyside descending on
the town mall en masse, horror fans will likely find themselves mourning
the opportunity this endeavour missed to create the horror equivalent of
something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What should be the Avengers
of horror baddies are just a bunch of generic goons, because we don’t know
anything about them. We've been told about them in many rambling speeches,
but the trilogy never took the time to show us any of their antics, to
build up their menace. Watching the climax of the
Fear Street trilogy is like watching
The Monster Squad
if you've never heard of Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman and the Gillman.
An epilogue suggests further instalments to come, but after slogging
through the initial six hours of Fear Street, I can't imagine too many horror fans will be keen to return to
Shadyside. But was this trilogy ever really aimed at fans of horror
movies, or did it set out to capture the attention of the fanbase for teen
soap operas?
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 is on
Netflix from July 16th.
